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Southern Ute Tribe Secures Historic Energy Agreement With Interior Department
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Approved, KJZZ, State

Southern Ute Tribe Secures Historic Energy Agreement With Interior Department

By Gabriel Pietrorazio | KJZZ Earlier this month, a tribe from the Four Corners region has inked a historic deal with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum advancing the Trump administration’s “Unleashing American Energy” agenda. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in southwest Colorado sitting above the border of New Mexico has entered the first-ever TERA — or Tribal Energy Resource Agreement — more than two decades after Congress enacted the law. This allows the nearly 1,500-member tribe to handle its own business — without obtaining expressed permission from the feds to lease energy projects and issue right-of-ways on the 700,000-acre reservation near Durango. Doing so is supposed to streamline the process by reducing delays. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KJZZ
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Southwest Colorado’s voice has gone unheard in Denver. Naomi Riess is running to change it.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Southwest Colorado’s voice has gone unheard in Denver. Naomi Riess is running to change it.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The men's room door was locked. The man inside wasn't responding. Naomi Riess's daughter-in-law — who works for the sheriff at the jail — had already recognized him when he walked in. She'd been watching. She called 911 and tried to find the key. Nobody knew where it was. When police arrived, they broke the door down and found him ODing on the floor inside a fentanyl cloud. The first two officers through both had to be Narcanned — one passed out immediately. Her daughter-in-law was third in line. She didn't need Narcan but went to the hospital for a full body detox of her clothing and her body. She had no voice for four days. The man was taken to the hospital and released. It was the weekend and police couldn't reach a...
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At Durango forum, GOP candidates field rotating questions submitted from across Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

At Durango forum, GOP candidates field rotating questions submitted from across Colorado

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Instead of posing the same question to an entire panel and allowing candidates to respond in sequence, organizers of the Feb. 13 Republican candidate forum in Durango tried something different. For the most part, candidates received different questions in turn. There wasn’t much room to sit back and think through an answer while someone else talked. Once your name was called, it was your turn.  VFW Post 4031 hosted the event, with RMV, Southwest Republican Women and the La Plata County Republican Central Committee working together to put it on. Clark Craig emceed the evening, and local GOP members Lisa Zimmerman and Amber Morris helped organize it. JJ McKinzie joined the Secretary of State panel shortly before t...
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Fort Lewis College Faces Political Fire from GOP Lawmakers After Blocking Turning Point USA
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Fort Lewis College Faces Political Fire from GOP Lawmakers After Blocking Turning Point USA

By: Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette Republican state lawmakers are criticizing the student government at Durango’s Fort Lewis College for rejecting a proposal to establish a Turning Point USA chapter on campus. Turning Point USA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative issues on high school and college campuses. Its founder, Charlie Kirk, was killed during a campus event in Utah in September. According to the Durango Herald, more than 30 students spoke on the matter during a four-hour-long meeting last week, with most expressing opposition to the proposal. The effort to bring Turning Point USA to the Fort Lewis campus was led by senior Jonah Flynn, who told the Durango Herald he wanted to “keep the conversation going” about conservative values in ...
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ICE Denies Claims of Mistaken Detention, Calls Allegations ‘Absurd’
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

ICE Denies Claims of Mistaken Detention, Calls Allegations ‘Absurd’

By: Heather Willard | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is lashing back at statements made by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, among others, who said that federal agents had mistakenly arrested a father and his two children and subjected the trio to verbal and physical abuse. The case centers around Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, 45, of Colombia, who was taking his 12- and 15-year-old children to school when they were all detained by ICE on Oct. 27. Immigrant rights groups, ICE disagree on status The Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition said that the family has a fully-documented, pending asylum case and has strong ties to the community, built over the last 18 months. ICE says Jaramillo-Solano came into the country without documentation...
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Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Southern Ute Tribe taps Animas–La Plata water rights after 60 years of roadblocks

By Shannon Mullane | Colorado Sun For years, two tribes have pointed to the barely used, multimillion-dollar project near Durango to show tribal water access challenges in the Colorado River Basin This summer, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe rolled out miles of temporary rubber water lines. The above-ground tubes had one job: carrying water to oil and gas operations on the reservation. But the pipelines also represent something else: a historic moment in a drawn-out, arduous debate over water in southwestern Colorado. In May, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe tapped into its water in the controversial Animas-La Plata Project, the first time a tribe has used its water from the project since it was authorized in 1968. The Animas-La Plata Project has come to encapsulate long-held dre...
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More than a hat: How Bernie Lake’s fight for health became a political battleground
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

More than a hat: How Bernie Lake’s fight for health became a political battleground

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice After fighting a cancer battle, Bernie Lake reclaimed her life while sporting her Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) hat. After breast cancer surgery, she returned to the Durango Community Recreation Center for her first post-treatment workout, determined to rebuild her strength.  Lake had been wearing her MAHA hat since July. "After the first assassination attempt on Trump, I was outraged that our political differences had gotten to such a level," Lake said. "People need to see different political views where they live. I don’t care if you like Trump or not—we should be able to coexist." Silent disapproval was common. "Not one person had said a word to my face before. Plenty of snickers, plenty of side-eyes, but neve...
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Durango band teacher indicted on charges of sexual predator acts
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Durango band teacher indicted on charges of sexual predator acts

By Jen Schumann, Rocky Mountain Voice On July 23, 2024, a Durango teenager told police that an adult male approached them online. He offered to engage in sexual acts with the 16-year-old.  The Durango Police Department quickly identified the suspect as 28-year-old local Benjamin Smith using information from the minor. After a swift investigation, detectives obtained and executed a search warrant at Smith's home this morning, resulting in his arrest and booking for Sexual Exploitation of a Child on July 25. The Durango Police Department recently posted a press release on the indictment of Escalante Middle School band teacher Benjamin Smith. They also requested public assistance on the ongoing sexual predator investigation. Smith, once a teacher in a position of trust to D...
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Durango School Board pauses decision to ban LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Durango School Board pauses decision to ban LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms

By Jen Schumann | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice In a room charged with emotion, the Durango School Board's decision to revisit their flag policy left the community holding its breath. The Durango School Board met Oct. 15 to discuss the district's recent choice to take down LGBTQ+ Pride and Black Lives Matter flags from classrooms. The controversy began when a parent lodged a complaint on Sept. 11, arguing that Black Lives Matter and the Pride flags are political symbols. The parent claimed these flags promoted political agendas in a school setting. In response, Durango School District 9-R implemented a policy on Oct. 1, requiring the removal of these specific flags, while allowing standard Pride flags to remain. This decision ignited community and teacher concerns, leadi...
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New technology may help find missing people in Colorado’s backcountry within minutes
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Approved, The Colorado Sun, Western Slope

New technology may help find missing people in Colorado’s backcountry within minutes

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun A Durango-based helicopter company is testing a new tool that could help search and rescue teams in helicopters detect missing and distressed people in Colorado’s backcountry within minutes and communicate with them, even if they are stuck in an area without cellphone service. The technology, akin to a miniature cellphone tower, attaches to the outside of a helicopter and allows searchers to pinpoint the locations of any cellphones within a 3-mile radius using a map on a tablet, Dr. Tim Durkin, a search and rescue program coordinator for Colorado Highland Helicopters.  “As we detect the phone, basically a blotch shows up on the map and as we fly around that area, that blotch gets smaller and smaller and smaller until we can see exactly wh...
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